/lit/ - Literature

>>11301358
>Get To Stare At Cat Butt Edition
Wild Wastes 3
Super Sales 3
Daniel Black 4
All of these will feature cat butts!

>>11301390
Are any of those series completed?

brandon sanderson is an individual of less than savory writing-skills and consorts with men for sexual pleasure.

Which Jack Vance series should I read first if any

One of the best series I've ever read!

6th for waifus are more important than plot

>>11301424
Why do you even bother? Trolling a niche thread, a worthwhile life goal I'm sure.

>>11301453
just go watch anime then

>>11301424
Did you cum loudly?

What do you think will be the next thing that will date sci-fi and make it so old books just aren't as current anymore? Like what happened with the internet and the fall of the soviet union (for books featuring politics).

My guess is longevity escape velocity. Or maybe detection of alien life, which many scientists believe will take place in the next 50 years.

It's eleventh enough, time for discussion! I have not had time to come up with any insightful questions so I'll simply ask:
>did you like the book?
>do you have anything smart to say?

Also, it's time to nominate books for the next round! Try to keep it high quality and at 200 pages of below!

>>11301358
>this is what liberals want

Currently halfway on the third Black Company book. I like it, really comfy. Think I'll continue reading this series for a while.
I liked Shed in the second book, especially when his "business" started ramping up. "Come again!"

>>11301553
Probably the way we will actually end up incorporating smart devices and AI into our living environment.

>>11301553
I'm betting it's going to be another technological development, like a device or piece of software.

>>11301553
AI/robots for sure.

>>11301553
Data science is so poorly understood by most and being developed so quickly that it's basically invalidating sci-fi - or at least making it look ridiculous - as it's being written.

>>11301424
t. chubby high school girl

>>11299553
please respond

>>11301648
>did you like the book?
Not particularly. Too many exposition dumps of the history of research slowing the pace of the story. The first quarter was really good and built a lot of tension. But once the cast of characters and their nature is talked about it becomes "man reads books in the library and disagrees with fellow ship mates".
>do you have anything smart to say?
The book felt like a long meandering path to the final chapter which was asking more or less what is God?
I wonder how much is actually lost in translation as well, from how people talked about it before reading I was left wanting more. Also we never find out what the other people's things were which is disappointing.

Damn, I'm kinda torn on Hyperion. On the one hand, the grammar is just incorrect in annoyingly consistent ways that make it look like the author was just taught English wrong. On the other hand, Sol's story actually brought a tear to my eye and I can only think of one other book that did that to me. Kassad's action sequence was mostly boring, but the end was great. The poet's story was good, but he's annoying between stories. Not in, like, a way that seems to be an intentional choice by the writer. His relationship with Lamia feels very forced.

>>11301414
The Dying Earth, then any of his space-faring adventures are great fun. Lyonesse is imo his most mature series, and is quite magical.

*saves fantasy*

psh...nothin personnel....kid......

>>11300506
>I think I'm one of the only people actively reading new authors every month.
Nope. 70 books so far for the year, and they are all books I never read before.
I'm the one that reads(chart anon) new books then shills it here.

>>11301814
I have been reading new books, and talking about them here. I'm reading ASOIAF now though so I won't be posting about shitty amazon books for a we while.
Next on my list after that is Lord of the rings.

>>11301553
I don't read sci-fi for realism. Otherwise you're discarding decades of great storytelling. Retrofuturism is pretty cool.

>>11301404
Wild Waste is completed (he only writes trilogies)
Super Sales will be completed in fall

Daniel Black will also be released in fall, but i don't know where the author is going with that series. if it will end with book 4, or will he continue. To me it seem like he burnt out on Daniel. He has more fire for the space loli cyborg, than Daniel Black imho. But Daniel is what is bringing in the dough and brought him to fame, so he can't just drop it.

Daniel Black was the first book i read with modern devices being made magically, that was actually good. A bunch of other amazon authors copied him after that, and their work SUCKS.

>>11301648
It was God-tier. Lem's unknowable cosmic entity blows Lovecraft's pulp puppets out of the fucking water.

>>11301764
If your only complaint is an unspecified grammar problem and that one character is (I agree) annoying, but you can't decide whether you like it or not, you're a fucking pleb.

>>11301553
The demographic inundation of the Western world and the rise of China.

>>11301832
Were you the one that shilled me emerilia,spellmonger and demons of astlan?

>>11301985
It's just that it has ups and downs. It's not that it's good or it's bad, it's that it's good or it's great. I think it's just "good" because of the problems I mentioned.

>>11301663
Picked it up again this year, just starting Water Sleeps. I skipped the spin-off one but the Books of the South and Glittering Stone have been some of the best stuff I've read in ages.

>>11302064
Oh OK, I agree, although I'm still not sure what your problem with Simmons' grammar is.

>>11301968
Remove the 6 chapters reading quietly in the library, move the part where he explores the surface to the middle more and I would agree. More investigation of the fellow residents, and actually seeing some of the features of the world first hand rather than through books would have been better. The library/reading book parts were just massive exposition dumps about what the world is and it is just lazy writing 2bh.
It really did read and feel like a translated book which was disappointing. I would say that Lovecraft is objectively better, he builds more tension and interest in a short pulp set in a room that you can hear music in than Lem did with an entire world, but it may read very differently in Lems native tongue so I can't really comment 2bh.

>>11302084
He doesn't seem to know that there is a difference between ", and" and just "and." This may seem minor to you if you don't give a shit about words but fuck it's annoying and he does it wrong all the time. I don't know how the editor let it slide.

>>11302043
No, I have and don't ever plan on shilling anything here. Or at least until I have read what is considered core fantasy books.

Just finished Patrick Rothfuss' series, book 3 never I guess. I liked both books but the whole chasing the girl was shit. Gonna start with Sanderson now. Which series should I read first?

>>11302408
Start with Stormlight and go backwards

guys what fantasy books are like devil may cry

>>11302431
Alright thanks, first time delving into fantasy since I was a kid (lotr, harry potter, narnia). It's been a while, I focused too much on sci fi but current sci fi is such a shit I'm going back to fantasy. Will try Black company, WoT, Malazan (maybe) and all the other recommended here.

>>11302408
>“You say ‘writer’s block’ and people are like ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ It’s like you’ve just said ‘I have meningitis.’ It’s like, ‘Oh fuck, writer’s block, did you get some amoxycilin for that?’ It’s not a thing. It’s not a thing. But here’s the thing. Here IS the thing,” Rothfuss said. “You write with your head. You could break your leg and then still write. But if, say, your dog has fucking died, that’s in your head. If your relationship is a mess. If you have a mood disorder (which, statistically, you’re six to ten times more likely to have if you’re a writer). If you have either diagnosed or undiagnosed depression, or any of the myriad host of things that can legit go chemically wrong in your brain. Or if it’s just your life is shitty or your dad is sick, or like, maybe the Republic is crumbling and there’s an autocrat in power.”

jesus

>>11301714
Pretty good if you skip all the earth stuff with Avasarala.

>>11302457
There are people who literally died waiting for the third fucking book.

Jesus fucking christ this book

>>11301648
I really enjoyed the concepts explored, but the story itself left a bit to be desired. As it digressed into enormous diatribes or pages and pages of exposition in the library I couldn't help but think of how I felt reading writers like Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged, where characters' dialogue was just an excuse to write an essay. The ocean itself was so cool, though, that I still enjoyed it.

>>11301762
>Also we never find out what the other people's things were which is disappointing.

I actually enjoyed the fact that their creations were left ambiguous, and think it was something that could have been used more to create tension.

>>11301648
I rate it 3/5. The first half was promising, but the second half lost focus and ended up accomplishing very little. All of the sources of intrigue are ultimately unanswered.

What happened to the first Harey?
What was the nature of the dream with Gibarian?
Why was Sartorius so secretive (and what was the significance of his guest's straw hat)?

The list goes on. It was a great setting and setup, which could have been taken in a lot of directions. Instead we get a few inconsequential info dumps and end on a vague philosophical rant. Somewhat enjoyable, but I wish Lem had done more with it.

>>11302627
I feel that the visitors, were built up to be revealed. They talked up and added emphasis to how they would reveal a lot about the creator, how they were a significant part of who they are, and then did nothing with that. A bit of a Chekhov's gun type situation which left me disappointed.

>>11302095
can you please elaborate on this i am stupid but would like to understand what not to do

>>11302686
Put simply, ", and" = ";" = "."
If you have a complete sentence on one side and the other side of the "and" you should replace the "and" with one of those three. "And" alone can connect a sentence to a phrase but not to another complete sentence. It's one of those minor things that slides often, but he consistently gets it wrong, especially around dialogue.

>>11303042
Gotta be careful using semicolons. Years of editing student papers in college has trained me to immediately look for grammar errors when I see a semicolon since it's one of the most commonly misused punctuation marks especially among people trying to seem smart.

>>11303077
Whomstever would do something like that

I'm writing a LitRPG novel right now.

How many millions of dollars should I expect when I shit it onto Amazon?

>>11303151
100 rubles

>>11303167

>>11303151
fucking nothing.

>>11301992
>the rise of China
Specifically, China getting serious about eugenics and breeding a race of supermen obviously superior to naturally selected humans.

So I've been reading Shadow of the Torturer, and I'm almost done with it.

I have to ask: is this book satire? Is it supposed to be funny? I can't tell if it's taking the piss. The part with the note, when Severian talks about how stupid the novels he reads are, and it feels like he's in one of them, seems to be a giveaway.

But a lot of the book, like when he tried to pick the deadly "flowers" without killing himself, and when Dorcas puts his hand on her breast, feels like a parody of dumb overserious fantasy themes and sexuality. I was actually laughing really hard at points, because it's so stilted and stupid, that I have to wonder if this is the intended effect.

>>11301424

If you're gong to read YA fantasy written by women, at least read the magical realism one about a qt. Taiwanese girl whose mother committed suicide and turned into a bird.

>>11303272
I thought the same thing. Yet according to /sffg/ it's the greatest thing ever. So either we're morons or this general has shit taste.

Been reading a few “heavy” books recently so wanted to pick up a fantasy/sci fi book. I’ve heard good things about The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, has anyone read it?

I also thought about maybe reading something by Ursula Le Guin since she passes recently, if anyone has read her work id appreciate some recommendations.

>>11303272
Some parts are intended for comedy
How much of it is meant to be that way is up to you
If feeling superior to the author/other readers/critics is how you enjoy books best, take it in the way you like it best

>>11303335
BotNS is probably heavier than many non-genre books you've read so maybe wait on that one
I've been meaning to read A Wizard of Earthsea and I'll probably go at that one after I finish Hyperion tonight

>>11303349
Let’s read A Wizard of Earthsea together then anon :) we can compare afterwards!

>>11303356
7 inches

>>11303349
>If feeling superior to the author/other readers/critics is how you enjoy books best, take it in the way you like it best

I thought the reverse, that the author was lording it over the reader by openly mocking the genre he was writing in, but in a way some people wouldn't pick up on. It's almost like he wrote a bad fantasy book especially for the purpose of getting nerds to fawn over it, while making fun of how bad it is in the text itself. It's surreal.

>>11301656

>>11303371
...so you didn’t like it?

>>11303527
I kind of did, it made me laugh a lot. But it feels like an extended gag.

>>11301358
Without spoilers can you tell me what this book is like?

How is the travelers gate series?

And my main question do you guys ever consider books less than 400 pages? It just seems so short to me like i know the story wont be good enough, am I wrong for feeling this way?

>>11303690
I don't know jack about that series but personally I'd love a nice plot driven concise book that reads like it has been painstakingly edited for near perfect pacing instead of droning on and on about setting and character exposition that is largely irrelevant or could have been weaved into meaningful dialogue instead.
Not sure if that exists so you might be right

>>11303690
>And my main question do you guys ever consider books less than 400 pages? It just seems so short to me like i know the story wont be good enough, am I wrong for feeling this way?
This is what dumb fantasy readers actually think.

>>11303721
Didn't you know? The quality of a fantasy book is determined by how much inane world-building you can put in it and for how many pages you can stretch it out. Things like plot movement and prose quality don't matter.

>>11303722
define "dumb"

>>11303775
An adjective describing a reader of epic fantasy novels.

Honestly somebody needs to write an "Against Worldbuilding" manifesto.

>>11302477
Fuck off, Avasarala is the best book character

>>11303792

Worldbuilding should have something to do with character or theme. In the Coldfire trilogy, the fact that magic responds to human emotion and has limitless possibilities is great because the main character is a wizard priest who has been taught that magic should ultimately be eradicated and that using it for excessive hedonism is the worst thing you can do, and he teams up with the fallen prophet of his religion who sold his soul so that he could become immortal.

Or in A Wizadr of Earthsea, the magic system is a huge part of Ged's character growth at the end.

Either do something like that, or take your science fiction/fantasy elements straight out of real life to make a social commentary, like Orwell did.

Something like The Belgariad, where the fantasy is just there to be fantasy, is what I would call lazy worldbuilding. I actually like The Belgariad, but it's not one of my favorites.

>>11303792
But it's easy.
>don't
>OK, just throw in a line here and there to find your bearings
>brandon sanderson is a hackfraud

>>11303792
It's fine as long as it is an aid to the story, rather than supplanting the story. It should never become the focus of the work.

>>11303853
Which is why I find Tolkien unbearable.

>>11303849
Strange and Norrell is magic done perfect tebehe.

>>11303690
>400 pages

Different publishers/printings have a varying word per page amount, so going by page count isn't very precise.

I wish some of you guys would come to /v/ and school everyone on what Cyberpunk is. These fags barley read or just know about a few books and they consider themselves experts.

>>11303867
>ever going to /v/

Do I look like the survivor of a botched lobotomy?

>>11303867
Give examples of /v/ermin retardation.

>>11303867
>you should come wallow in shit with me
No thank you.

>>11303855
I agree in the case of The Silmarillion, etc., but not The Hobbit or LotR.

>>11303881
ez

>>11303891
But he's right.

>>11303690
I havent read it but I plan on it. I finished the most recent book in the cradle series and really enjoyed it. The reviews on amazon for travelers gate are even more positive than the cradle so I assume its pretty good.

>>11303890
LotR is precisely where JRR became unbearable to me.

>>11303944
Hmm, I think that LotR is a good example of creating a believable world in service of a story. Certainly a writer doesn't need to create something to that extent, but Tolkien was able to use his abilities as a scholar to create something that would give his story a real weight. When I read LotR I don't have some lingering feeling in the back of a my mind like, "This is just some stupid name the author made up," you know? It has a quality to it that feels more real.

>>11303891
Reading is gay what are you a faggot

>>11303891
Don't tell me... you actually read books? Holy shit, lol.

>>11303983
Never said my opinion is universal truth, I found it annoying and pacebreaking.

>>11304056
>Never said my opinion is universal truth
Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean that I thought you meant it that way. You're free to have your own opinion.

>>11302638
>and what was the significance of his guest's straw hat
Maybe it was his hillbilly great-great-great grandfather beating the shit out of him for being a little shit.

>>11301648
Like some of the others say, great setting and intriguing first half but the whole thing drowned itself in information dumps.

Can't say I expected BIG BLACK TIDDIES when I started the book though.

>>11302408
Start with Warbreaker, Emperor's Soul and possibly his short story collection. When you've finished them you're done with everything worth reading.

>>11304064
We've had a civil discussion up to this point so I need to call you a hack and a fag now. How's Children of Hurin btw?

>>11303944
What's your thoughts on A Song of Ice and Fire?

>>11304178
>How's Children of Hurin btw?
I tried reading the Silmarillion, but that was too much for me, so I just quit there and haven't read any other Tolkien.

>>11304225
Boring and meandering from book one. Not a fan of multiPOV outside of Dune and a few distinct others.

>>11304247
I figured you would be a bit more scathing in your critique given your comments on JRRT. Meandering is shading the several paragraphs on a knights brothers wife and her sister that travelled to a tavern to speak to the inn keeper on the best way to make a pie and other such exposition side tracks in almost a positive light.

>>11304297
Never made it that far. That old hag telling the cripple Stark stories of ye old times broke me.

>>11303761
its been irritating. any recs for kino? I'm already reading BotNS

THIS is Reddit's favorite book?

>>11303867
I went there and posted about how Gibson is a talentless hack, are you satisfied?

I didnt think reading in english would be this hard. Im reading the eye of the world and i need to translate a word or two in almost every third sentence

>>11304638
It's a power fantasy for bullied teen losers. I hated the fucking thing, especially after Faceless Bully#20 constantly berates poor Ender for no other reason than being an asshole and against his own interests.

Would you say there is a trend for more female main characters in Fantasy or is it still more males or balanced? I mean overall not just YA.

>>11304827
overall its still overwhelmingly more male mcs.
even in fiction written by women. keep in mind all the fucking erotica and lgbt stuff that easily outnumbers regular scifi and fantasy.

>>11304638
Pic related is better than this.

>>11304913
Is this the new Library at Mouny Char but metally cumming loudly?

>>11303371
Severain, especially in the beginning, is in some ways a parody of heroes in general. (He only becomes mildly relatable in Sword, I think.) Very few of his accomplishments are his own doing, though he writes about them as if they are. You might be getting the voice of the narrator and author mixed up, because in general I feel like BotNS is a pretty sincere attempt at placing the message of Christianity into a sci-fi context.

>>11304945
For a while now.

Which is your favorite /lit/? I'm partial to Midnight Tides though it might be the most tragic

>>11305489
Throne of Glass.

Is there any "JRPG - The novel"?

>>11304168
Warbreaker is his worst book by far.
Siri is just fucking irrelevant to the plot, Vivenna spends 200+ pages going 'wow my predjudices'.
Only good parts is Lightsong and Vasher.

>>11305764
there are a few VNs with heavy gameplay elements

>>11303272
>>11305045

I just got to the botanical gardens and this book fell off a cliff. What is this shit?

Yeah I get it, it’s in the future and the painting was an astronaut and the tower was a rocketship. When does it get good?

>>11305764
pick up some isekai

>>11305764
>>11305904
>>11305925
I meant actual books, with sci-fantasy setting, crystal-tech, gnosticism, get the mcguffin to stop the evil demiurge, exotic partymembers, a lot of adventures on the way, crazy natural and magical world, power of friendship, etc.

>>11305958
sorry anon you'll just have to fund my WIP or read something else

>>11305958
webnovels are what you are looking for. check royalroadl and webnovel.com.

>>11305764
>crazy natural and magical world
Iron Dragon's Daughter.

>>11305889
It's a self contained story with unique concepts and characters. That automatically makes it better than any of his thousands of pages long series of generic fantasy.

>Siri is just fucking irrelevant to the plot
This is just wrong, without her the whole Suseborn plot would be gone from the book and it'd just be about Lightsong fucking about.

>>11306078
>webnovel.com
>recommending chinkshit
What are you doing??? Also where are the epubs?

>>11306078
>I meant actual books
>webnovels

>>11301648
Fucking loved it, loved the information dumps, loved the cosmic horror, was genuinely really unsettled by some parts, in a way I haven't been in a long time
Can't believe I didn't read this sooner
I haven't seen the movies and I have no idea how they would have transferred the subtleties of the book into film form, my guess is that they didn't

>>11304837
I'll agree with this. Male protagonists dominate the currently trendy grimdork/low fantasy sub-genres, traditional high/epic fantasy stories are about equal in balance but like Sword and Sorcery they have gotten less popular over the years.

>>11305764
http://www.samsykes.com/2018/06/announcing-seven-blades-in-black/

Probably will be out by the end of the year.

>>11305489
probably memories of ice. Big re-read is on the todo list.

Alright, done with Hyperion, taking a break from sci-fi before starting on Fall of Hyperion. Next up is either A Wizard of Earthsea or starting on Malzahan. Anyone have an opinion about which one? I have no intention of ever finishing Malzahan, for the record - if I get to book 4 and get bored but liked the stories up until that point; I'll be satisfied enough.

>>11306541
>I have no intention of ever finishing Malzahan, for the record
What's the point? Just read Earthsea then.

>>11306658
I just mean that, if the plot stretches itself too thin for me, that I'm not going to regret reading the first ones if I do drop it. If it's interesting enough to carry me to the end, I'll be pleasantly surprised. I just don't want to bother if the first books are slogs all about setting up payoffs for later.

>>11303656
Single PoV, ms cat butt on the cover.
Couple humans around used as slaves, intelligence disputed, Planet of the Apes vibes.
Heavy petting.

>>11303690
200 used to be very common

Maybe unrelated but I found funny that William Gibson considers Cyberpunk 2077 too bright and GTA-ish to be cyberpunk.

>>11307020
he's right

>>11307020
traditionally cyberpunk really just means high tech low life. gibson might have been a pioneer of the genre but he didnt outright define it. fuck even shadowrun is pretty cyberpunk and that shit has elves and dragons and shit. i do however agree that cyberpunk 2077 doesnt look gritty enough. im chalking that up to the daytime though. the night time neo-noir flair seems to be spot on. people really just complain about the daytime stuff.

>>11307020
They sky need a thick layer of smog to be more believable

>>11307020
Back to /v/
It's a GTA game set in the future, it's not cyberpunk

Cyberpunk has become steampunk, a stale, homogenized celebration of the wealthy having their fantastical adventures but with purple hair and trench coats instead of corsets and goggles with gears glued on them.

>>11307020
genres aren't real, especially ones with punk at the end.

>>11307174
relevant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFCuE5rHbPA

Biopunk is heavily underutilized.

Just finished pic related and the other short stories/novellas in the series. They were a blast. If you like classic S&S, I recommend them. With that in mind, who is writing stories in the same vein these days? I’m okay with looking at indie authors like Dilks.

>>11307342
Dumbass. I forgot the pic. Should also add, ive read everything by William King, Paul Kemp, and Howard Andrew Jones, as well as a great number of the “classics.” That’s why I’m looking for modern day writers.

POV perspective is easier than some of the other stuff here

>>11304945
When people read library at mount char they admitted it was good. When people read maas they say it's shit.

>>11305489

>>11307020
Nowhere did he mention that it was "too bright to be cyberpunk." He mentioned that the vision of the future in that trailer was unimaginative. There's nothing in that trailer that makes me go "hey that's a unique vision of the future." It just looks like your standard GTA game, in a different skin.
For the people ITT who haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X2kIfS6fb8

these young kids need to get off Gibson's cyberlawn

>>11304945
Mount Char is good

>>11304638
they read it as kids, before they were told what to think.

>>11307598
I read mount char and it was awful.

I want a light hearted almost comedic book so that my GF and I can enjoy it together. I want it to be fantasy though. Any ideas?

>>11307962
Shardblade or coinpulling?

>>11307962
start with the classics

>>11307962
Discworld. Mort's a fine starting point for that kind of thing. Good luck with it; I can't get my boyfriend to read anything with me.

>>11308036
Tits or gtfo

>>11308052
Do you really think any women would lurk in a thread dedicated to the man who cooked the first Pringle and his lovable rapist-Christ hero? We gay

>>11308082
Reminder

/tg/ is looking for recommendations, lads. Do the community a service and pop over to give them some good shit to read >>>/tg/60251166

>>11308082
Boys don't read, imbecile.

>>11308107
they will default to Warhamma and Drizzle just like we default to BotNS and based Brandon-san

>>11307971
Goddamn, he should stop snacking while he writes. Hes getting bigger than his fans.

>>11307636
>2077
>cars are driven manually

>>11307617
Based

>>11307962
Discworld. The Eyes of the Overworld if you're feeling edgy.

What are some sci-fi books with really beautiful prose? Not purple prose but elegant and poetic descriptions, etc.? After a while of very hard, technical sci-fi I kind of want something more literary.

>>11301358
Is the Tales from the Flat Earth series good all the way through? I'm liking Night's Master so far and I'd like to read the whole thing.

>>11308435
Vance's Dying Earth.

>>11305489
Just finished Deadhouse Gates.

Holy fuck I did not expect that ending. All those poor Malazans and Wickans. I get that Coltaine is going to be reincarnated and that Duiker somehow survived. I fucking hate Malick Rel.

>>11308435
pringles

Any fantasy or sci-fi about someone just exploring a surreal landscape by themselves while carrying things on their back?

>>11308645
Pilgrim's Progress

>>11308435
Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light

just started reading LOTR for the first time, not sure how this has slipped by me for so long. it's a surprisingly lucid read so far, was expecting much more dryness in the writing.

Is Malazan the Dream Theater of fantasy?

>>11308107
>so no modern authors like Tolkien or Lovecraft
>Tolkien
>Lovecraft
>modern
Jesus fuck..... I see its the cunts in tg that keep tolkeinesque fantasy alive Tolkienesque

>>11308285
He will soon have to pay for 2 plane seats when he does tour.

>>11308645
The Night Land
B O T N S

Any recommended cyberpunk novels? Similar to something like blade runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

>>11309110
I don't understand that reference.

>>11308846
Don't know how you came by that idea, Tolkien's always been praised for his prose skill, it's just his storytelling that people take issue with.

>>11303867
I haven't been to that shithole since they banned any and all free speech during the harbor. I ain't going back and I'm too old to play childish games

>>11304638
>Reddit
>Book
That place is even more full of pseudoscience than here. At least here a few autist will actually read stoner or Ulysses. There it's just plebs pretending after a quick sparknotes

>>11306541
Malazan is only ten thousand pages. Man up.

>>11304827
It's almost impossible to write a female fantasy main character and not have her be a Rey like Mary Sue that everybody hates

>>11309359
It's possible. Like Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle or Lirael.

>>11307020
>Some faggot who writes a lame ass genre like steampunk thinks his opinion is credible
Maybe they should ask what Ridley Scott thinks instead? I truly love when unrelated faggots thing their opinions are in any way relevant

>>11309364
>Possible
I didn't say impossible, you used a good example. Maybe it's like 1 book in 5 the female won't be an insufferable cunt. Most female main characters are written by female author's who just refuse to give them any character flaw

>>11306541
Don't even bother picking Malazan up. By book 4 you haven't even met the full main cast yet nor has the main story even gotten underway. It's a series that is like a puzzle, it takes several books before you can really see what's going on. There's pretty much no point in starting if you're not gonna carry on since you'll never figure out what's even going on.

>>11301358
are any of those good post-apocalyptic scifi novels?

>>11309242
>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
>cyberpunk

Did you even read the fucking book?

>b-but I watched Blade Runner

Blade Runner has fuck all to do with it outside of a few names and concepts.

>>11307177
What about punk rock?

>>11307177
What about post-punk

>>11309310
It's a Jojo reference.

>>11309110
I love Dream Theater and hate Malazan but I can't really refute this in a good way.

>>11309359
I disagree. Most GOOD authors that are not autists are fully capable of writing good female characters. The problem is that most contemporary SF&F authors are either worthless writers or absolute autistic nerds.

>>11309420
>good post-apocalyptic scifi novels
Oh boy. Read Book of the New Sun.

>>11309464
>punk rock
>punk at the end

>>11309476
>implying post-punk is a real genre and not an umbrella term for loads of genres spawned out of the punk movement

YA containment thread fucking WHEN

Finishing up the three main Foundation books
Gonna move on to The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
But after that I'm in the mood to read something that goes off the fucking rails but in a believable way
Like the Three Body Problem series or Accelerando

>>11308607
obligatory FUCK MALICK REL

>>11309420
Canticle of libovitz

>>11309516
Don’t.

Dropped that shit after 200 pages. Absolute shit.

>>11309714
Boy, do you know where you are?

>>11309420
Vurt is post-apoc but more fantasy than sci-fi. There aren't any elves/dwarves/swords but there are archetypes.

>>11309714
Confirmed for either massive brainlet or absolute shit taste.

>>11309772
>muh unreliable narrator
One of the most hackneyed, trite techniques in literature and is constantly used as a crutch to justify one dimensional characters and laughable writing

>>11309801
>muh hot opinion
The unreliable narrator done right lends amazing dept to a story. In BotNS the attentive reader will come to the conclusion that Severian is a lying bastard with flawed memory (the opposite of what is written in the book) simply by reading the story. It's the perfect example of show, don't tell.

Kingkiller Chronicle is a perfect example of an unreliable narrator done wrong. Rothfuss simply say that Kvothe is unreliable so that he can get away with writing his self insert Gary Sue.

>>11309801
>unreliable
Only through withholding information, the words told are true and the details given are remembered correctly.
If I told you "I went to work today" it would be the truth, though I only went to pick up a charger I had left there on Friday. So I had told the truth but was unreliable at the same time.
When done correctly this version of unreliable narrator leads to interesting stories where everything can be taken in different ways depending on how you read into it.
A version where the truth isn't told would fit what you are talking about.
What >>11309833 says is true, when done correctly it's great when done with a slight deviation it can all fall to shit.

>>11309848
>>11309833
Thank you for your nice definitions of what an unreliable narrator is. Yes I know Severian is one. Takes about two chapters to figure that out.

I’m saying that it only covers up what is a boring slog of a story with very few redeeming qualities. The difference between reading a Gary Stu character and one who THINKS he’s a Gary Stu but is still narrating the story is pretty much nil. The characters are boring all the same and the events dreary.

Nabokov I can stand doing it, Wolfe just takes it too far and it becomes grating.

>>11309854
I did not tell you that Severian is an unreliable narrator or what an unreliable narrator is. I told you why it's good (in BotNS) and how it adds depth both to the character Severian (and Thecla, for that matter) and to the book in general.

>>11309854
You implied an unreliable narrator was a negative aspect when it's the opposite when done well.
But I agree that when it isn't done well it makes the entire book pointless.

>>11309880
Maybe I’m being harsh because it was all supposed to be one book instead of four, and the pay off for slogging through it comes 700 pages in.

But I’m not in the habit of reading 3 books I hate first to get to the 4th and a payoff. And I stand by the fact that the unreliable narrator has been done so many times and rarely well that it gets tiresome to read, and it’s how I felt reading BOTNS. Tired of these one dimensional interactions with characters and events.

>>11309896
Are you the anon that thinks the Lord of the rings is pointless because Gandalf is given powers on a whim to save the day?

>>11309801
>>11309833
What makes Kingkiller stand out is that it's a very comfy read. I read them a few years back and I'm slowly doing a reread now. They're some of the best fantasy to read by a fireplace.
The story, characters, lore and action are all average to meh, but the mood makes up for it IMO.

>>11309939
I might lose some /sffg/ cred by saying this but I did not hate the first book. The editing of the book is amazing and Rothfuss' prose is very easily read giving you the illusion of reading a very good book. However, when you read the second book or even look closer on the first you realize that they are both deeply flawed.

>>11309444
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1mB0xU5xXQ

>>11305958
>gnosticism, get the mcguffin to stop the evil demiurge, exotic partymembers, a lot of adventures on the way, crazy natural and magical world, power of friendship, etc.

You could try Gene Wolf's Wizard Knight.

>>11310110
its basically /ss/ the book. i approve.

>>11308645
At the risk of getting shit for suggesting something that isn't /sffg/, I would check out Blood Meridian. There is a lot more to it than just "exploring a surreal landscape by themselves while carrying things on their back," but that plays a huge role. And while they are not in a fantasy setting, McCarthy's descriptions of the various landscapes are so surreal and beautiful that you might as well be.

>>11308645
Voyage to Arcturus

>>11304638
Is this real?

>>11310229
No.

>>11310229
I checked the first one on Google Books and it's fake.

What is the /sffg/ equivalent of Muv-Luv Alternative?

>>11309444
protocyberpunk is better than actual cyberpunk anyway

>>11308645
Bobiverse

>>11302457
>>“You say ‘writer’s block’ and people are like ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ It’s like you’ve just said ‘I have meningitis.’ It’s like, ‘Oh fuck, writer’s block, did you get some amoxycilin for that?’ It’s not a thing. It’s not a thing. But here’s the thing. Here IS the thing,” Rothfuss said. “You write with your head. You could break your leg and then still write. But if, say, your dog has fucking died, that’s in your head. If your relationship is a mess. If you have a mood disorder (which, statistically, you’re six to ten times more likely to have if you’re a writer). If you have either diagnosed or undiagnosed depression, or any of the myriad host of things that can legit go chemically wrong in your brain. Or if it’s just your life is shitty or your dad is sick, or like, maybe the Republic is crumbling and there’s an autocrat in power.”

>reee trump means i cant write to save my lazy ass worth a damn

fuck this is just like how GRRM wrote an entire book's length of rants about his retarded hugo awards

>>11310306
>oh man I just realized I am the Dr. Moreau unholy union of Brian Blessed, a rabid honey badger and a teenage girl but it's that tard in the White House's fault I can't write amymore and I will act like gurm despite the fact I wrote exactly 2 books and he has written a couple dozen times more than me across genres but fuck my fans I'll just keep screeching about irrelevant shit that usually motivated people to write more not less
>how does Scalzi do it I wonder?

>>11309310
Dream Theater is a program metal band loved by the music equivalent of what you'd call a pseud here. Basically, people listen to only them, think they are the pinnacle of metal, and refuse to give anything else a fair chance. They constantly praise it for the technically prowess of the instrumentals and nothing else.

>>11309507
What the fuck are you talking about

>>11310284
Name 3 protocyberpunk books.

>>11310342
Dream Theater is garbage.

>>11310348
do androids dream of electric sheep
demolished man
a scanner darkly

>>11310364
Demolished Man is such a fucking underrated book, really set the framework for what Dick wrote after. And made better I'd argue.

>>11310342
>program

prog is short for progressive

>>11310342
>metal
>pseud anything

Is A Darker Shade of Magic worth a read?

>>11310492
Not really but Colour of Magic is.

THELOMEN

>>11310342
>Dream Theater is a program metal band loved by the music equivalent of what you'd call a pseud here
DLET THIS

>>11310539
TARTHENO

>>11310474
Autocorrect doesn't know shit

>>11310476
What

>>11310492
i had no interest to read the rest. quite run of the mill.

>>11310542
TOBLAKAI

>>11310545
i'm saying metal is a musical genre mostly met with derision or not taken seriously by critics and generally viewed as juvenile. not typically something a pseudo-intellectual would gravitate to.

>>11310492
I thought it was fairly entertaining

the sequels didn't hold up though

>>11310342
>>11309110
It very well could be.
You could also call Malazan the Tool or Rush of fantasy.

Throne of Glass is the Kate Bush of fantasy. Just kidding

>>11310779
So what are zeppelin Tolkien then or is that too obvious?

>reading Dune

This book is Islamic propaganda what the fuck

>>11310796
Dunsany. Tolkien is The Beatles

>>11310798
>reading

That's Islamic propaganda too

>>11310779
Nobody talks about malazan to impress people though, plus its fairly obscure

>>11310798
Image related, it's you.

>>11303335
>I also thought about maybe reading something by Ursula Le Guin since she passes recently, if anyone has read her work id appreciate some recommendations.
Her most famous scifi works are "The Disposessed" and one of my favourites "The Left Hand of Darkness". Fair warning, both of them are pretty heavy on politics and related issues though.

>>11310804
>implying the mudslimes didnt go on burning sprees with books and engaged in a more historic revisionism than the jews

>>11310827
>implying you read

>>11310812
>obscure
It's the most recommended series on reddit.
Hardly obscure unless you don't visit a single fantasy board/forum.

>Nobody talks about malazan to impress
This is also wrong.

>>11310826
Spoiler: Ursula is a fantastic writer but absolute shit at creating names for people and places.

>>11310801
>ywn see a weird Sgt Pepper era acid fantasy LotR starring The Beatles as the 4 hobbits

>>11310843
i dont
audiobook master race reporting in

>>11310844
What's worse, Malazan or Wheel of Time?

>>11310867
Malazan is unfocused and Wheel of Time is unfinished, both suffer from the general problem of being epic fantasy. I'm slightly biased in favour of WoT since I read the pre-Brandon parts as a teen so I'll have to say Malazan is worse.

>>11310844
>It's the most recommended series on reddit.

reddit also hates it and thinks its boring and confusing

>>11310866
Do you audibly suck dick too?

>>11310867
YA tropey shit vs an actual story with great foreshadowing

>>11310881
no i have sense enough to pirate each and everything ever.

>>11310884
>an actual story
That's saying a lot for an epic fantasy series.

>>11310826
>>11310849
Just started “Left Hand...” and really enjoying it. I get it’s a feminist theme, but it doesn’t feel preachy at all, and she’s such a good writer that the hermaphroditism works really well as a concept to communicate it.

>>11310879
>confusing
People mostly say this in a condensing way.
"You don't like Malazan? Yea, it's really challenging but it gets good after 3000 pages."

>hates it, boring
It's been consistently a top 10 most popular series on /r/fantasy until last year.
And the only reason it's no longer inside the top 10 is the rising popularity of Sanderson and Abercombie.
It gets mentioned in every recommendation thread unless somebody explicitly asks for something that's not Malazan.

You know what's hated by reddit?
Throne of Glass.

>>11310875
If I liked malazan would I like wot? I've been assuming no.

>>11310923
WoT is more a conventional farmer boy becomes hero story.
Later on it gets a little different.

>no
Maybe.

>>11310539
Is he doing a karsa series or did I imagine that?

>>11310923
I would not recommend it to you, epic fantasy is for idiots.

>>11310911
From the Wikipedia article on the book
>In a 1986 essay, Le Guin acknowledged and apologized for the fact that Left Hand had presented heterosexuality as the norm on Gethen.
Apologizing because your fictional world wasn't politically correct enough, lol.

>>11310964
>implying future lefties wouldn't have Heinlein-grade free love

trotskeyite spotted.

>>11310936
His Anomander prequels were doing poorly enough that the last book is on hold so he can start the Karsa trilogy.

>>11310923
lets say
did you read silmarillion?
you probably will like
do you like prophecies?
and self sacrifice?
and specially
do you like ambiguous endings?
do you have patience?(some books are a bit of a slog with very few things happening)
if so wot is for you
the books are very good

>>11310964
It was like ‘69 when she wrote it. Homosexuality was only decriminalised like 2 years before.

Anyways, the book is still great and shits on men and women equally

>>11310967
I don't want to see whatever the future leftist dystopia is, whatever it may be.

>>11310974
And? How is portraying homosexuality as normal on an alien planet (or earth) something to apologize for? What the fuck is wrong with you?

Finished the last book today. The 3rd book was by far the best and the 5th probably the weakest. What I do not understand is why the series was called the "Traitor's Son Cycle'. Literally no reference to this during the series apart from his mother who got raped by her brother who became king when she was just a girl and she didn't like him because of that, at no point does any of the main character's do anything that could be considered traitorous, in fact most of the 2nd and 3rd book is them slowly dealing with traitors.

>>11310964
>political correctness in 1986

>>11310923
Finished book 2 and never picked up book 3. It was alright but I decided couldn't be bothered reading a doesn't or so more books if I wasn't really into it, which I wasn't.

>>11310981
I was just saying that it wouldn’t be weird if she had always wanted to have homosexuality in it but kept it out to get published. Jesus, calm down.

If you read the book in any case, the apology hardly makes sense because “men” have sex with other “men” because there are no fixed sexes.

>>11310981
She wasn’t apologizing for homosexuality, brainlet.

>>11310989
>The contemporary usage of the term emerged from conservative criticism of the New Left in the late 20th century. The phrase was widely used in the debate about Allan Bloom's 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind,
You are incredibly ignorant if you think this wans't an issue already in the 1980s.

>>11311004
Typo.

>>11310492
The characters are badly written and the "novelty" of the setting doesn't hold up long. Better read anything else. From what I gather the author intended the book for a more adult audience than the other books, but to me the book remains a juvenile YA husk.

I recommend Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Besides both having wizards and otherworldly threats, these both books share a minor character, namely the same mad king George #3. The difference is that JS&MN is a good book.

>>11311007
fringe crazyness becomes mainstream. has the pendulum begun to swing or irretrievable?

>>11311110
this

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is this kind of twee otherwordly England/London but done extremely well even if it is a bit of a Dracula knock-off. There are worse things to ape.

Is The Illustrated Man a good entry to Bradbury?

>>11310983
for one thing it's traitor son cycle not traitor's.

>>11311241
Yes

there is any books with tragedies as sad as gondolin in silmarillion?

>>11301414
The Demon Princes.

>>11303867
>. . . school everyone on what Cyberpunk is. These fags barley read or just know about a few books and they consider themselves experts.
Cyberpunk is a subgenre where there are really only a few works to begin with and I'd argue the best of it is on film.
>Blade Runner (1982)
>Neuromancer (1984)
>Ghost in the Shell (1995)
>The Matrix (1999)
Sure, you can read William Gibson's bibliography or tangential works like
>Snow Crash (1992)
or Bruce Sterling or whatever but cyberpunk is more of an aesthetic rather than a revolution within its parent genre. The examples above evoke the best of the aesthetic while providing entertaining or even thought-provoking plots within that environment, which is why they excel.

Apropos of nothing, I'd say GitS is the closest to how reality turned out. The best cowboys didn't end up fighting the man and hanging out at The Gentleman Loser; they work for states while wielding arcane powers has been exposed as the end in itself.

>>11310827
>implying arabs didn't advance science and mathematics greatly while europeans were busy beating each other with sticks and wallowing in their own shit

>>11311330
that was before islam. well mostly. some astrological advancements were made in the earlier days of islam until a great chunk of science was deemed haram.

>>11311336
Just a different sect was popular and in power, it was still islam. The women hating learning is bad follow me blindly version still existed at the same time too.

>>11311330
more like ultimately failing to reconcile assimilated greek and persian ideas.

>>11311336
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age

>>11311357
thats part of the historic revisionism. islamic "scholars" claimed advancements made previously as their own. a few museums actually have very interesting data about that. for example the appearance of numbers and written arabic carbon dated to as early as 300 BC. islam formerly formed around 600 A.D. way way after a lot of the concepts discussed in this article were actually made available for the first time.

>>11310342
>Basically, people listen to only them, think they are the pinnacle of metal, and refuse to give anything else a fair chance
Sounds more like Wolfe readers desu

>>11310844
>>11310879
>>11310918
>Actually knowing what goes on at /plebbit/

>>11310844
I don't browse reddit, but apparently you do and have a chip on your shoulder about what they like.

>new cyberpunk think is being released

horde of new people come to /lit/ asking for cyberpunk books. yay trends.

>>11311434
good thing it essentially doesn't exist in the form they'll be wanting.

fresh bread
>>11311476
>>11311476
>>11311476
>>11311476
>>11311476

>>11311401
>persians don't exist

behold, reddit.